For seven years, Jason Farrington, 44, attempted to “go straight” and renounce his attraction to men by participating in reparative therapy groups, such as those offered by Exodus International, a Christian organization whose objectives include helping people attempt to change or control their same-sex attraction.

“I sat there and listened to my Christian counselor tell me how these feelings that came natural to me were sinful and wrong,” Farrington, a Mission Hills resident, said. “He told me that homosexuality runs contrary to God’s plan for relationships, yet those who struggle with these feelings are still God’s children, in need of his forgiveness and healing, and that the Christians around me would heal me through love and compassion.

Researchers funded by Exodus recently reported mixed results in a study that attempted to show the extent to which sexual-orientation change is possible.

Psychologists Stanton Jones of Wheaton College and Mark Yarhouse of Pat Robertson University attempted through a study of 98 participants of “ex-gay” ministries during a period of four years to show whether faith-based reparative therapy can “cure” homosexuality. The results were announced at the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) World Conference that took place in Nashville earlier this month, and they will be published in a book by InterVarsity Press, called Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation.

InterVarsity Press is part of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which held the conference in association with Exodus International. The book claims that “ex-gay” ministries substantially reduce homosexual desire and attraction among participants. However 25 of the original 98 participants dropped out of the study.

Still, Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, cheered the findings last Monday in a Nashville news conference.

“Finally, there is now scientific evidence to prove what we as former homosexuals have known all along – that those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction can experience freedom from it,” Chambers said.

Every year countless gays and lesbians attempt to “cure” their homosexuality through “ex-gay” ministries, including Exodus’ more than 120 ministries. Critics, such as Truth Wins Out, a nonprofit think tank and educational organization that counters right-wing campaigns and debunks the “ex-gay” movement, have been very outspoken about the study.

“It comes as no shock that anti-gay ‘researchers’ at Wheaton College and Pat Robertson University would release a study that claims you can pray away the gay,” said Truth Wins Out’s executive director Wayne Besen. “I suppose their next study will provide support for Pat Robertson’s theory that homosexuality causes meteors and hurricanes.”

Such critics claim Chambers’ assertion is, at best, wildly optimistic, given that more than 60 percent who made it to the fourth year did not significantly change; nearly a quarter were completely celibate, and 8 percent claimed they were “gayer” after the study.

Christopher Austin, 43, an ex-gay counselor with Renew, an ex-gay program in Texas, was sentenced two weeks ago in Dallas to 10 years in prison on two counts of felony sexual assault in connection with his work. One of several victims who came forward, Mark Hufford, testified that Austin used “touch therapy” to ostensibly “cure” him of homosexuality, a treatment that progressed to include nude sessions and even oral sex. A judge later reduced his sentence to seven years’ probation, on each charge.

“[Austin] exploited his position of authority to sexually abuse vulnerable clients,” Besen said. “Ex-gay therapy is extremely dangerous and places confused clients in the hands of repressed therapists. It is a recipe for disaster.”

All the major medical and professional associations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, have unequivocally discredited claims that sexual orientation can be changed.

San Diego Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) said “ex-gay” ministries such as Exodus are dangerous because they tamper with people’s lives.

“I’ve never met one person who has gone through such a program who was a ‘success’ achieving what the program desired,” said MCC interim pastor, John Gill, who noted he’s learned from people in the congregation who have attempted conversion, that it has confused them about the direction of their life and caused more harm than good.

“In the end, not only has it failed, but it has also placed a psychological question mark, emotionally and mentally in their life, along with an uneasiness and unsettledness that I’m not sure they will ever be able to get over.”

Gill said none of his congregation members have approached him about attempting to change their sexual orientation, and he only hears about those who have attempted unsuccessfully.

“I would like to think that if they have the possibility of going into such therapy in their mind that in coming to MCC they will see the health, the vitality and happiness of GLBT people in the church. Hopefully, they will realize that can be theirs also and that there is no need to go through such aversion therapy.”

As for Farrington, it has now been several years since his experience with Exodus and his failed attempts at relationships and “relations” with women. Now, he said the only thing that needs to be healed is the damage caused by such attempts to change who he truly is.

“It has been a long road learning that there is nothing wrong with loving another man. I’m glad to no longer be living a lie and to be part of a community where I am not only accepted by others but also accept myself,” he said.